View full sizeUDM Sports InfoShareta Brown (No. 24) is a freshman on the University of Detroit Mercy's women's basketball team.

FLINT, Mich. — Transitioning from high school to college basketball hasn’t been hard for Shareta Brown.

She was accustomed to change already.

As a junior, Brown transferred from Pontiac Northern to Grand Blanc High to help eliminate all outside distractions.

She moved in with her AAU hoops coach, Darrin McAllister.

Now as a freshman at the University of Detroit Mercy she’s reaping the benefits of that pivotal decision.

“I really just stick to myself and I’m more focused,” said Brown, the Titans’ top scorer on the women’s basketball team. “I have more support and I started to focus more on basketball and school, and in order for me to even come to college I had to get my grades up. My grades weren’t where I wanted them to be.”

Brown’s unwavering ambition now has her in the driver’s seat in Motown.

“It felt good especially being a freshman because now I know I’m being recognized for what I’m doing,” Brown said of the honor. “Plus this is the second time, so I’m seeing that my hard work is really paying off.”

In Brown’s last game on Jan. 7, the Titans forward scored a season-high 31 points and 11 rebounds to help Detroit beat Loyola 76-66 on the road.

Brown’s 31 points made her the 16th player in Detroit’s history to ever score 31 points or more in a women’s hoops contest.

Brown also posted 13 points and nine boards against UIC last Thursday despite a 59-66 loss.

She averaged 22.0 points and 10 rebounds on 62.5 percent shooting for the week.

View full sizeUDM Sports InfoShareta Brown graduated from Grand Blanc and she was named this week's Horizon League Co-Player of the Week.

On the season, Brown holds the team’s highest scoring average (15.8 points) and is the top rebounder, hauling in 8.6 boards per game.

She has started in all 16 battles and is currently the Horizon League’s third highest scorer and is tied for second in double-doubles (6).

Although she hates talking off the court, Brown has no problem with being a vocal leader for her new team.

Her teammates often ask her to negotiate with the sideline leader.

“If the team doesn’t want to do something, then they will be like ‘Reta talk to coach so we don’t have to do it,’ ” Brown said, laughing. “I just like to have fun and I’m a funny person once you get to know me.”

She feels no pressure to step into that role now that she has gotten close to the people in her surroundings.

“I don’t really like meeting new people because I’m so antisocial and shy,” Brown admitted. “Once I know the people that I’m around then I’ll talk, but if I’m around a lot of people that I don’t know, I really won’t talk that much.”

Detroit coach Autumn Rademacher is certainly impressed with the frosh.

“We knew she had the ability to come in and make a difference right away,” Rademacher said of Brown. “Did I anticipate it being to the magnitude that it is? I don’t know because a lot of kids need a little time with their transition but Shareta just came in like it was the most natural thing in the world and played her game from day one and she’s never looked back.”

As she looks forward, Brown hopes to lead the Titans to its first Horizon League championship since 1997.

Detroit (7-9) will return to action tonight versus Milwaukee at 7 p.m. at in Calihan Hall.

The team will go as far as Brown takes them.

“I’m really proud of the way Shareta has stepped up these last couple of games,” Rademacher said. “She’s a very unselfish player, all she wants to do is win, and we need her to play well offensively and defensively for us to be successful.”